[OR_Archaeology] Archaeology Fest Film Series: Best of 2008 in Portland Jan. 16-24

[Susan White]

ArchaeologyFest Film Series: Best of  2008
 
A benefit for The Archaeology  Channel
International Film and Video Festival
 
Fifth Avenue Cinema, 510 SW Hall Blvd., Portland
January  16-24, 2009
Co-sponsored by PSU Film Committee and Dept. of  Anthropology
 
Ticket sales open at 6:30 pm.  
Programs begin at 7:30 pm on dates  indicated and will conclude by 9:30.  Admission $6.  Tickets available  at the door.  
These are the best films from the 2008 edition of TAC  Festival.  And they are VERY GOOD.  
 
(The 2009 edition of TAC Festival  will take place at Eugene's Hult Center, May 19-23 see the info at the bottom of  this message.)  You can see clips from these films by going to 

_http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries.shtml_ 
(http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/PortlandSeries.shtml) .
 
Program C: Friday, January 23:
 
>From Hutong to Highrise: The Transformation of Beijing (China) 21  min.
Beijing, China, is fervently embracing the modern world.  The city  has been reinventing itself by replacing its historic urban fabric of narrow  lanes (hutong) and courtyard houses (siheyuan) with highrise buildings and  highways.  The quest for modernization has, in large, destroyed much of  Beijings heritage and has disrupted the way of life familiar to  residents.  From Hutong to Highrise documents the urgent debate between  residents, preservationists, urban planners and developers over the future of  the city.
 
The Giant Buddhas (Switzerland) 86 min.
In March 2001, two huge  Buddha statues were blown up in the remote area of Bamiyan Valley in  Afghanistan.  This dramatic event surrounding the ancient stone colossi   unique proof of a high culture that bloomed until the 13th century along the  Silk Road  is the starting point for a cinematic essay on fanaticism and faith,  terror and tolerance, ignorance and identity.  Oscar 
nominated director  Christian Frei's thought-provoking film journeys along a perimeter that both  divides and unites people and cultures.  (Audience Favorite film; Special  Mention by Jury; Honorable Mention for Animation, Script, Music, and Inspiration  by Jury)
 
As a bonus, and to compensate for our technical difficulties experienced  Saturday night, January 17, we will also show the following film, which was supposed to be shown last Saturday:
 
Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods (USA) 52 min.
This film explores  the 3,000 yearold history of a divine substance through ritual an  obsession.  From Mayan Kings who were buried with it, to urban  professionals who bathe in it, the film begins in ancient Mesoamerica and journeys throughout time to explore the history of chocolate in Europe's finest chocolate houses where this substance is still revered as one of mankind's  
highest expressions of decadence and pleasure.  This film also features discoveries by several prominent Mayan archaeologists that substantiate the  sacred role of chocolate in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and it captures for the  first time an ancient, secret method of processing cacao beans that is still  used today by women in rural Oaxaca.  (Honorable Mention in Best Film  competition; Most Inspirational competition and for Script and Music by Jury;  Best Animation 
by Jury; Special Mention by Jury; Honorable Mention in Audience  Favorite competition)
 
Program D: Saturday, January 24:
 
Yamana: Nomads of the Fire (Italy) 52 min. 
The Yamana were the  indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and were at one time the guardians of an  extraordinary civilization.  Now extinct, they used their ingenious  instinct to survive for thousands of years in an extreme land.  They were  dismissed by history, their races extinction caused by Europeans.  But we  still have much to learn from the Yamana.  Ernesto Piana has spent 
the last  thirty years of his life studying traces of the Yamana, and his research is  helping overturn the prejudice and stereotyping the Yamana have suffered from  their first encounters with civilization.  (Honorable Mention in Best  Film competition, Best Animation competition, Most Inspirational competition,  and in Script and Cinematography by Jury; Best Narration by Jury; 
Honorable  Mention in Audience Favorite competition)
 
Komi: A Journey Across the Arctic (France/Germany) 52 min.  
Alexei and Vassili are both Komi, one of the most ancient indigenous peoples of Siberia.  They live with their families on the border of the Arctic Circle, and are the last reindeer herders of this region, as all other Komi have abandoned this highly archaic and exhausting lifestyle.  Each autumn, in  order to feed their animals, these two families cross the Urals into Asia to escape the intense northern winters, returning again in spring when the weather  is temperate.  This film documents their long and perilous four-month  journey with their 5,000 reindeer.  (Best Film by Jury; Best Cinematography  by Jury; Best Music by Jury; Most Inspirational by Jury; Honorable Mention for  Narration and Script by Jury; Honorable Mention in Audience Favorite  competition)
 
TAC Festival returns to the Soreng Theater
 
ALI is pleased to announce that the next edition of The  Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival will  take place during May 1923, 2009, in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for  the Performing Arts in downtown Eugene, Oregon.  TAC Festival will bring to  Oregon the worlds best films on archaeology and the world of indigenous  peoples.  
 
Please join us in welcoming to Eugene the people of the world for  this cinematic celebration of the 
incredibly diverse human cultural  heritage.  Details at 

_http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml_ 
(http://www.archaeologychannel.org/content/TACfestival.shtml) .
 
 
 
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